FSV Mainz 05 II

Ninth place in the Regionalliga Südwest is where the 2025/26 campaign has left FSV Mainz 05 II, a fourth-tier standing that says little about the club's purpose. Ridle Baku went on to Wolfsburg, RB Leipzig and the national team, and Florian Müller moved between the sticks at Mainz, Freiburg and Stuttgart.

The reserve side traces to 1992, when Christian Heidel set it up from the bottom of the league pyramid, in the C-Klasse. It has since had one stretch of real relevance: from 2014 to 2017, when the rules of the day let reserve teams play in the 3. Liga, Mainz 05 II spent three seasons in the professional third tier before relegation sent them back down to the Regionalliga in 2017.

Matches are played at the Bruchwegstadion, the ground the first team used until it left for the MEWA Arena in 2011. For league games the Südtribüne usually stays shut, so the ground rarely fills beyond the numbers a reserve fixture draws.

There is no fixed derby, but the closest thing to one is Kickers Offenbach, with Eintracht Frankfurt II and Darmstadt 98 II filling out a Rhein-Main rivalry. What the club does have is silverware from a narrower stage: five straight Südwestpokal titles, in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.